Pre-Game Talk: 2014 NHL Entry Draft (for non-6th overall pick discussion) - Part IX

[Angry Little Elf]

If Lemieux is available at 36, I'd take him.

 

[LiquidSnake]

So is it almost a given that Sanheim will NOT fall to the 2nd now?

 

[Nuckles]

So is it almost a given that Sanheim will NOT fall to the 2nd now?

In my mind it's guaranteed he'll be taken before the 36th pick. I could see him being taken as early as 19th by Tampa, and there's no way he falls past Calgary's 2nd round pick (34th).

 

[John Bender*]

I was excited when we were going to draft Valeri Bure.

They should have picked him. Libor Polasek instead, is that right?

 

[me2]

So is it almost a given that Sanheim will NOT fall to the 2nd now?

We'd need Anaheim's pick imho.

 

[Bitz and Bites]

I don't think Benning will be hesitant to draft "Russians" per se. Russians who have come over to play in North America will probably be fair game based on his history, and league-wide tendencies. Benning is reported to be a big force behind the Bruins selecting Alex Khokhlachev, a Russian from the CHL. There's a good handful of Russian CHLers to look at in the 1st+2nd round this year too.

But Russians currently playing in Russia, with a somewhat questionable desire to come to the NHL if offered more money in the KHL...are something to be legitimately wary of, and i'd expect Benning to approach it similarly.

I don't see Lemieux as necessarily having the same defensive prowess as Kesler though. To me, he's more like a "poor man's" Brad Marchand, though slightly bigger. Realistically, i see Lemieux ending up closer to a Patrick Kaleta...which i'm not even positive i'd want on my team, much less at the value of a high 2nd round pick, or even a late 1st as i've seen in places.

People are quick to throw Burrows under the bus (myself included at times) for the ire of the officials he brings down upon the Canucks...a guy like Lemieux isn't going to help that...and i'm not convinced the offensive skillset is there to offset that.

100% get what you're saying about the Russians,if they're over here then there's a much better chance of them staying here and playing in the NHL.I think you have to be really sure that they're commited to staying and are good enough to make the NHL sooner rather than later as they're not going to want to play too long in the AHL for 100k or less per season when they could be making 10x that much or more at home.

I think Lemieux would be much needed addition to the 'Nucks as we really lack grit and guys that compete at that kind of level.JB said he was going to draft real competitors and Lemieux fits that description to a tee.It sounds like he's smart enough to reel himself in when necessary,like in Barrie's playoff run,and should be able to focus on playing between the whistles and avoiding bad penalties.

I think the ref's issues with Burrows were his diving and embellishing more than his actual game.I don't really recall him getting that many penalties until the time of Augergate and after that he got called for anything and everything.
There's other players who play an intense,in your face style who don't rack up a ton of penalties.

 

[Nucker42]

when does roster freeze end?

 

[Bitz and Bites]

We'd need Anaheim's pick imho.

Either that or Pittsburgh's if they're in on the sweepstakes.
I'd love to land Sanheim so getting a late first would still be a pretty good chip coming back in a trade.

 

[Nucker42]

In my mind it's guaranteed he'll be taken before the 36th pick. I could see him being taken as early as 19th by Tampa, and there's no way he falls past Calgary's 2nd round pick (34th).

agreed, he will be gone.

 

[thefeebster]

I'm not holding my breath for Sanheim anymore. Personally, i have him as the 3rd D men and i could see him going in the late teens.

I am having the hardest time ranking these Swedish D men. I can't say any truly stood out to me at the U18s, besides Forsling, and reading most reports on them, they all seem to have relatively limited skill sets besides Pettersson or Aho. Tough decisions.

 

[Patchey*]

What's the worst that could happen? We could get a franchise goalie in the mean time, bring Demko along slowly and develop him into a quality backup, then quality 1A, then alienate our franchise goalie, alienate all other GMs who attempt to trade for him, panic trade Demko at the 2019 draft and then trade the franchise goalie for peanuts and be left with nothing.

Oh....oh dear.

At least we will get a 2019 draft Horvat . E4 my sources tell me that draft is better than 2013

 

[The Iron Goalie]

I'm not holding my breath for Sanheim anymore. Personally, i have him as the 3rd D men and i could see him going in the late teens.

I am having the hardest time ranking these Swedish D men. I can't say any truly stood out to me at the U18s, besides Forsling, and reading most reports on them, they all seem to have relatively limited skill sets besides Pettersson or Aho. Tough decisions.

I like Pettersson more then Aho...to me you can't over looking size here, plus Pettersson plays by far the more complete game. Aho does have very interesting offensive upside...your right it's a tough choice.

 

[The Iron Goalie]

Alright I don't know too much about Nylander but we need a 1C in the future and I read up on him a bit. Do you guys think he is capable of being a 1C? or would he need some AHL time in two years to get better and learn under our system I guess?

Personally I want Ehlers or one of the top 5 like Dal Colle or Drasital.

I don't think he'll be a #1C, but he could become one...I think of he's got top line potential it's as a wing. That's just my opinion.

 

[timw33]

when does roster freeze end?

It ended at the end of the playoffs (IE 2 hours ago) if I'm not mistaken. Most action happens in the 1-2 days before the draft though.

 

[82Ninety42011]

If we can get a late 2nd would like to take a chance with Joshua Jacobs. Big strong and smooth skating Dman who shoots right.

http://www.draftsite.com/nhl/player/joshua-jacobs/20530/

 

[Hansen]

I'm not holding my breath for Sanheim anymore. Personally, i have him as the 3rd D men and i could see him going in the late teens.

I am having the hardest time ranking these Swedish D men. I can't say any truly stood out to me at the U18s, besides Forsling, and reading most reports on them, they all seem to have relatively limited skill sets besides Pettersson or Aho. Tough decisions.

Petterson seems like a guy who Id be willing to take with our 2nd. Hadnt heard much about him until recently but he seems like he has a hell of a lot of untapped potential, looking forward to how he does next season.

 

[thefeebster]

I like Pettersson more then Aho...to me you can't over looking size here, plus Pettersson plays by far the more complete game. Aho does have very interesting offensive upside...your right it's a tough choice.

Ohhh i have Aho ranked much lower, due to his size. Just feel that most of the Swedish D this year are guys who are rather limited offensively, project to be more positional defensive D-men, some with skating issues too. I don't like taking these kind of guys in the first half of the draft, personally.

Petterson seems like a guy who Id be willing to take with our 2nd. Hadnt heard much about him until recently but he seems like he has a hell of a lot of untapped potential, looking forward to how he does next season.

With Sanheim likely off the board, I think i'd prefer to go with a forward at 36. My reasoning is that i feel the quality of the forwards at 36 are much higher than at 66, compared to the D men at 36 and 66. I think there are still some good D candidates at 66, but i also wouldn't mind going forward for our first 3 picks.

 

[The Iron Goalie]

Ohhh i have Aho ranked much lower, due to his size. Just feel that most of the Swedish D this year are guys who are rather limited offensively, project to be more positional defensive D-men, some with skating issues too. I don't like taking these kind of guys in the first half of the draft, personally.

With Sanheim likely off the board, I think i'd prefer to go with a forward at 36. My reasoning is that i feel the quality of the forwards at 36 are much higher than at 66, compared to the D men at 36 and 66. I think there are still some good D candidates at 66, but i also wouldn't mind going forward for our first 3 picks.

Pettersson is my #1 ranked Swedish D, but Aho's offense is better that's all I was getting at. I wouldn't take Aho before the 4th round.

As for our 2nd I agree a forward should the priority...now I'd like to know who'd you'd want? I'd like Pollock, Bleackley(if he falls), or call me crazy but take Kamenev(who has one of the highest upsides of all the forwards available IMO)

 

[LiquidSnake]

Ya, a D in the 2nd round would have been ideal but I guess not.

Hopefully someone like Pollock or an outside shot at Bleackley would be great.

 

[biturbo19]

100% get what you're saying about the Russians,if they're over here then there's a much better chance of them staying here and playing in the NHL.I think you have to be really sure that they're commited to staying and are good enough to make the NHL sooner rather than later as they're not going to want to play too long in the AHL for 100k or less per season when they could be making 10x that much or more at home.

The bolded is a very pertinent point. With guys who might be mired in the AHL for a significant stretch of time, the appeal of "going home" and making substantially more money can be a tough one to overcome. It really depends on the player though.

I like Pettersson more then Aho...to me you can't over looking size here, plus Pettersson plays by far the more complete game. Aho does have very interesting offensive upside...your right it's a tough choice.

Yeah. Aho to me, is just not big enough to overcome the lack of a defining offensive game. Small guys who make it to the NHL on the blueline are a rare breed to begin with...small guys who make the NHL without an extremely dynamic offensive game are even more of a rarity.

Agree with others suggesting this isn't a very strong year for Swedish defencemen.

 

[Igor Larionov]

I think Oskar Lindblom would be a solid pick at 36. Brett Pollock wouldn't be a bad choice either; I like what I saw from him on the Oil Kings and he has a big shot.

 

[biturbo19]

So, as far as "mid/late round guys" go, anyone have anything to say about Joel "Joey?" Daccord?

While poking around i came across some stuff on him and i'm intrigued. Including this little bit of video. Just watch it, and tell me it doesn't remind you of someone near and dear to Canucks fan's hearts. The Jersey # might be a tip-off.



There's a whole bunch of full game iso footage of him out there as well if you dig around a bit. Seems his pops is a goaltending coach who obviously does a lot of film work with him and has a bunch of it up there for the viewing.

It's almost eerie to me watching some of this stuff how much he reminds me of Schneider (especially early Schneider) in terms of how he moves around the crease. Similar size, style, even out of the same sort of Mass Prep School system. And the mannerisms at times throw me for a loop. It's somewhere between freaky and funny. But he also looks to have a lot of similar tools, good size, strong movement, quickness, agility, etc., and a battler too.

Drafting a goaltender out of a prep school is basically a terrifying idea, but then again, the netminder who just hoisted the cup again was drafted out of HS so it can't be all bad.

 

[BerSTUzzi]

I still think Bleackley is going to be on the board at 36 and a steal for us. That's who I'm hoping for rather than a Lemieux, especially since I also feel the Sanheim dream is dead.

 

[Iridescent*]

I still think Bleackley is going to be on the board at 36 and a steal for us. That's who I'm hoping for rather than a Lemieux, especially since I also feel the Sanheim dream is dead.

I'm hoping Honka is available for our 2nd round pick. He is exactly what we need.

 

[The Iron Goalie]

I'm hoping Honka is available for our 2nd round pick. He is exactly what we need.

I'd say there's an 85% chance both well be gone (Honka/Bleackley).